Maybe I'm the Asshole

When I was younger, I was always positive I was right.

The older I get, I realize all our politics are the same. Only the hero is different.

My father has a saying: "Sometimes you're the windshield, and sometimes you're the bug."

That echoes in my mind almost daily. I don't relish being either, but I get we are all both, depending on the situation.

With the national events of the past few weeks and my own usual tendency to absorb emotion wherever I find it, I've grown agitated. It primes me to be the asshole.

That's not a great feeling, to realize you actually want to turn people away at the door, just because you're mad.

That's where I've been, though. Even though that's not how I see myself.

It's disconcerting to realize you could be the stone stuck in a craw, the branch across a road. But we all believe we are heroes of our own stories, and that's important to remember as we move through the world.

Everyone thinks he or she is right.

And therein lies the rub.